Seattle Will Defend Kshama Sawant in Defamation Suit Brought by Police Officers (Seattle Times)

Councilwoman Kshama Sawant (Socialist Alternative) stated she thought a particular police shooting was a murder.

She is also being sued by a landlord for calling him a slumlord.

The city will defend Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant in the defamation lawsuit brought against her by two Seattle police officers, Council President Bruce Harrell decided.

In that lawsuit, Officers Scott Miller and Michael Spaulding claim they were defamed when she falsely declared they had committed a “brutal murder” in last year’s fatal shooting of Che Taylor — an allegation not supported by a later inquest jury.

By city charter, Harrell had to decide if Sawant made the alleged statement “within the course and scope of employment.” He concluded it was.

The city already is representing Sawant in a second defamation lawsuit, this one brought by Carl Haglund, a landlord who took issue with Sawant referring to him “as a ‘slumlord’ and as a ‘notorious slumlord.’”
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Seattle could spend a bundle defending itself and Kshama Sawant in defamation lawsuits

Joe Groshong, an assistant city attorney and the city’s torts section director, has said that “I wouldn’t be surprised if total litigation costs exceeded $300,000” in both lawsuits.

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